Dining Sheds Drop to Only 2,600, as Season Starts on April 1

With the revised outdoor dining sheds program set to return on April 1, the already much-shrunk tally of citywide dining sheds has dropped even further, according to fresh estimates released by the city’s Department of Transportation.

There will now be 2,600 total sheds, instead of the 2,800 sheds anticipated by the same agency last week, which were deemed “about 3,000.” Two thousand of those sheds will be sidewalk sheds, while 600 will be roadway ones. That’s down from an estimated citywide peak of 12,000 sheds on roadways and sidewalks over the phenomenon’s pandemic boom.

Sidewalk sheds will be able to stay up year-round, while the roadway season will last until Nov. 29, when they’ll have to come down for the year.

“Spring is in the air and New Yorkers are ready to enjoy dining al fresco,” DOT Commissioner Ydannis Rodriguez said in a statement. “Today we’re reminding all establishments with approvals to operate that they can begin constructing roadway setups next week so they’re ready to serve customers on April 1.”

Rodriguez noted that the DOT received 3,400 applications in total, from more than 3,000 restaurants. In other words, it appears that 800 haven’t make the cut, although perhaps this will change in the coming months. The agency did make some bureaucratic changes last month to ensure that many under-review sheds could still operate as of April 1, given the lag-time on final approval.

The decline in restaurants applying for sheds under the revised program has been attributed, at least according to some owners, to new regulations. Some of these were implemented with community input in mind, such as placing sheds out of the right-of-way of commuters and pedestrians. Others, such as switching out the once-ubiquitous sandbags for water canisters, are intended to deter rodents.

The applications also came with various fees. It costs $1,050 for a separate roadway or sidewalk shed license, or $2,100 for applicants applying for both types of sheds. After this, there was a $1,000 fee for a mandatory public hearing, as well as security deposit fees– $1,500 for a sidewalk shed and $2,500 for a roadway shed.

The DOT is further touting a Dining Out NYC Marketplace that it created in response to applicant stress, which connects sellers of finished compliant sheds with buyers.

According to various reports, one specific restaurant had their sidewalk shed stymied by the NYC Council, which can essentially veto individual applicants: Le Dive, located on 37 Canal St. in an area informally known as Dimes Square. An attorney for the establishment practically begged the Council to keep the shed up and running, claiming that its loss would cut four jobs.

Council Member Christopher Marte, who represents Le Dive’s Lower Manhattan district, led the charge: “Le Dive has demonstrated a continuous disregard for sidewalk cafe regulation, and at this time cannot be trusted to be a good steward of this program and must be held accountable.” He cited loudness complaints from an irritated constituent, as well as the persistence of “smoking” and pedestrians reportedly having their right of way blocked. It appears to be the lone location that the City Council blocked.